Looking for info to set up organized 50 state directory page & question.....

[jseville]

I have a resources page and it is getting a bit long in terms of link info.

Questions--1) does this look bad to google 2) does it really help/add credibility if it is set up w/a page that lists 50 states (+ DC of course)?

2) does somebody have some code for that already or a page I could easily throw up to begin reorganizing my links/resources?

jaybird

[judyo]

As reciprocal linking is being questioned with the recent Big Daddy update (what is being questioned is if it is being devalued by Google - you'll get many different opinions), I think it is best to set your recips up as well as you possibly can. This means separate state pages, international, etc.

Setting up the first page with all 50 states plus International & other real estate related links is just the first step. Then you need to set up 50+ actual pages to coordinate with these links. Most people add some kind of content to these individual pages so they are not just pages loaded with links.

Personally, I am getting very picky about exchanging with a site that doesn't have individual state pages. I still like to follow Google's recommendation that a page should have less than 100 links per page.

Even if Google doesn't penalize your page, you might have a difficult time getting good sites to link with you with one big resource page.

[VRI]

Even if Google doesn't penalize your page, you might have a difficult time getting good sites to link with you with one big resource page.

That's the biggie, IMO. Whatever value is transferred from the page to your partners is going to be divided by the total links per page. Most that limit the number of links per page would be hesitant to trade with those that don't.

About categorizing them, I think almost everyone uses some sort of db to display their links. There are a ton of free scripts available that will assist you though you may find that replicating the look and feel of your site difficult with their css and templates.

It's a pretty simple process to have one put together if you prefer. I roll my own on windows servers in asp and use http://www.esyndicat.com/ for my php sites.

[Eric Blackwell]

Well said Judy O and VRI;

The number of links on a page IS important. If there is one thing that you need, it is a well contructed structure to link with. HOWEVER, please do not get into the trap of focussing purely on recip link exchange. Take a holistic approach as described on several other threads in this forum.

I realize that it seems like a lot of work, but in the end it is the best way to ensure long term results...

Best;

Eric

[Jay Griffin]

As it pertains to Yahoo! you might want to consider who you are linking to and vice-versa if you are building state pages. Advanced Access (including Greg Boser aka WebGuerrilla who they have hired as a consultant) is telling their clients to remove the links on state pages. This is because of a penalty that has dropped most of these sites drastically. One site that was ranked on #1 on Yahoo! last week is now in the 180's. Over 30,000 sites have been affected.

Here is an exerpt of a rather lengthy email they sent last week to their Premium Marketing Package Owners:

********************************************

As your Website Marketing Specialist, I am advising you that your Realtor to Realtor links on your "States Pages" be deleted right now to help your search engine rankings. These link are not helping you and need to be deleted.

This is obviously big news and I know it may seem very frightening to do. The main point here is that peer to peer linking is not valuable to your search engine rankings and is harming you. Please let me know at once if I can remove these links for you. I would be more than happy to take care of the work for you.

What Has Led To This Advisement?

In March of this year we became concerned (as many of our Marketing Package clients did) about current Yahoo rankings for those in our Advanced Access family. We performed many tests on our network to slowly experiment if we could change anything for the better on our clients rankings. Those experiments were varied and included removing links from sites, changin g our server configuration, and moving sites around on different IP blocks. With the exception of a week in April and three weeks in May when all rankings suddenly came back, only to drop again, we remained concerned. While it is true that many other real estate websites that are not affiliated with Advanced Access were no longer in the Top 10 of Yahoo's search results, we have so many fantastic websites that it was baffling that the rankings were gone so suddenly.

[judyo]

I'm not sure the AA sites got dumped just because of recip linking. Most of the AA sites were loaded with all of the same duplicate content. So many AA sites had recip pages in frames that Google didn't index them; not sure about Yahoo.

[Jay Griffin]

Judy,

This might be a good time for Morgan to chime in and give his take on whether he "trusts" Greg's and my sources of information and what I posted.

[REW Tyler]

As your Website Marketing Specialist, I am advising you that your Realtor to Realtor links on your "States Pages" be deleted right now to help your search engine rankings. These link are not helping you and need to be deleted.

That doesnt sound like too healthy of advice. Although AA directories are not much value due to most of the linked pages being framed, dynamic URL's and linked only to other advanced access/similar sites. I assumed that's most likely the reason most AA sites were dumped, although I could be wrong.

This is obviously big news and I know it may seem very frightening to do. The main point here is that peer to peer linking is not valuable to your search engine rankings and is harming you. Please let me know at once if I can remove these links for you. I would be more than happy to take care of the work for you.

First time I've heard peer to peer linking of being no value and being a harm to a site.....Maybe I could see that if it was a link un-related/shady to the theme of your site.....

[Jay Griffin]

REW Tyler,

When you have done SEO for over 11 years you make friends and connections with people on the inside that the closest most will get is reading what they have to say in a blog, forum, or maybe in a seminar.

You'll also find that what works today can get you penalized or banned tomorrow.

Except for having Overture on my web properties I could really care less about Yahoo! So the "inside" information that is being relayed here comes from WebGuerilla.

In short, the reason for this penalty was confirmed by a Yahoo! employee and it was implemented by IP address. Over 32,000 AA template sites are on one IP and only a few survived. For example:
1) debbieferrari.com had been ranked #1 for years on Yahoo! for the term "orange county real estate." Today it is #189 even though it's attempting to comply.
2) phxrealestate.com, which is on the same IP, has not been been penalized and this is probably because their state pages are presented and named differently.
3) Ken Smith (suburbanhousehunters.com) is on the same IP and he uses the same naming convention as debbieferrari.com. There is nothing wrong with his state pages, but he's taken a hit.

Right now it's a penalty. Tomorrow the sites in the AA network that do not comply could be construed as a "bad neighborhood." You are getting a heads up. Take it, or leave it.

[kyle422]

As Tyler said most AA sites have there recip links in a frameset which haven't been optimized to be spidered by search engines. Meaning the search engines can't even see those links within the framesets. So how could they be banned for that? Do you have any proof as you claim that Yahoo banned these site because of recip linking? You can't just come onto the forum and start dropping bombs without evidence of your claims. From your statements I could only assume that any real estate directory that requires a backlink is a bad neighborhood.